The 411 Wrestling Top 5: The Top 5 Best Gimmick Changes

The 411 Wrestling Top 5: Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. We take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to participate and give us their Top 5 on said topic. So, onto this week’s topic…

Week 335 – The Top 5 Best Gimmick Changes

Wrestling is always filled with changes, but who had the BEST gimmick changes?

Bradley Hargett
5. Kane – “That’s gotta be, that’s gotta be Kane, that’s gotta be Kane.” Is one of the most memorable sound bites in all of wrestling history. In the months leading up to Badd Blood: In Your House, Paul Bearer blackmailed Undertaker in order to become his manager once again after their split in the summer of 1996. (At SummerSlam to be exact) In order to accomplish this forced reunion, Bearer teased having information about Undertakers past that he wouldn’t want to be out in the public. Undertaker would reluctantly give into the plot of Bearer only to be harassed to the point of once again separating from Paul. This would lead to Paul slowly unraveling the plot, and revealing at first that Undertaker’s brother was alive. As a fan during this time, I can tell you that the look on Undertakers face when he was given this bit of knowledge, more than told the story. Fast-Forward to the night of Badd Blood, and Kane would be introduced; with Paul by his side, to cost Undertaker the match against Shawn Michaels in the first ever Hell In A Cell match. Why did I take the time to first explain how Kane came to be? Because…I feel like the build to his debut was masterful. The story worked, the music worked, the ring gear worked. As a 13 year old kid, I had no idea this ‘monster’ was the same man I’d seen as a dentist with the most awful set of teeth I’d ever seen. (To this day I wonder how they pulled that look off.) Glenn was packaged as Isaac Yankem, DDS (Get it? Yankem? Clever right? No? Didn’t think so…) From the start of his career in 1992 (which took place in the same city in which Kane was born) Glenn took on characters by the names of Angus King, Doomsday, Unabomb and my personal favorite…The Christmas Creature. (I wish I was making this up) So say what you will about the use (or misuse) of the Kane character over the years, he makes my number five because this man bounced back from being a living Christmas tree, a Diesel rip-off and an evil dentist, to have one of the longest and most memorable runs in WWE history.

4. (Crow) Sting– I’ll be the first to admit it, when I first sat down to compose this list; I had to go to YouTube and watch Sting’s ‘debut’ as the crow. I never was a huge WCW fan, from the time I fell in love with WWF in 1993 (watching it only sporadically in the years prior) I was loyal to the brand, and admittedly always saw Turners outfit as the ‘B show’. However, be that as it may; I felt as though I couldn’t make this list without including Sting. His transformation to the ‘golden boy’ white meat baby face, to this type of loner (or free agent as he initially called himself on Nitro the night after Fall Brawl) was not only risky, but it was fresh; and it breathed new life into the man they call Sting.

3. The Rock – Rocky Maiva made his WWF debut in 1996, and I think it’s obvious to every wrestling fan out there that this man (in this gimmick) was destined to fail. I understand why they thought it’d be a good thing to give him a name that honored his grandfather, and his father; being a bit of a sucker for subtle nods toward family, and the bleeding of reality with fantasy; I can appreciate the intent. However, at the time that Rocky debuted, society as a whole had begun to change; and in a world where NWO is now running wild (pun slightly intended) we just did not want the smiley guy who was just happy to be there, and fans showed that to be true by relentlessly chanting things such as “Rocky sucks” and “Die Rocky Die” The WWF did the right thing by allowing Rock to shed the ‘blue chipper’ image and be himself. Rocky Maiva was the type of guy that you couldn’t help but hate, but ‘The Rock’ would go on to be the guy you wanted to hate; but couldn’t help but love. He would go on to be one of the biggest names of the attitude era, and beyond. I would even venture to guess that Dwayne Johnson owes his booming movie career (at least in part) to the fact that he was able to transition to a character that he truly breathed life into.

2. “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan – I will be very surprised if this man doesn’t make the cut on every single top five you will read this week. Frankly, I struggled (for a few seconds anyway) with whether or not he should be number one on my list, but I digress. We all know the story. Hulk Hogan (with the help of Vince McMahon Jr.) changed the wrestling business in the early 1980’s. I think we could debate all day who needed who more, Vince or Hulk; but that’s a discussion for another day. The facts are that Hulk Hogan caused one of the biggest booms in wrestling and its storied history. After running for over a decade as the ‘Real American’ (American…sorry, I had a Jack Swagger moment.) Hulk took a huge gamble, in essence putting his entire career on the line; when he turned to the dark side and was revealed to be the third man of the NWO at Bash at the Beach 96 (An event I watched so many times as a kid.) “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan would be born that night, and I’ll be dammed if the S.O.B. didn’t do it all over again. Some may argue with me, but in my opinion; Hogan put a fresh breath of air into the wrestling business. I firmly believe that he opened the door (Along with a man who we’ll talk about in the number one spot) for the change that would slowly lead to one of the most (if not the most) popular times in all of wrestling, a time that made wrestling cool again. I don’t believe that the likes of D-Generation X would have been afforded the opportunity to do the things they did, had Hogan not turned the business on its ear by shocking us all and turning heel. I don’t know that anyone else can say they’ve changed the business, not once…but twice; and for that reason, “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan just had to be on this list.

1. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin – Okay, I’ll just get this out of the way and admit that ultimately Austin made my number one spot purely out of my own personal fandom of the man…but sue me. I hate to beat a dead horse, but again; Steve Austin is another guy who, unless you’ve been living under a rock; you know the progression of his character. There is no question that he is one of the biggest names in all of the wrestling business. Some would argue that he is THE biggest name in the business. (I believe I’ve even heard Vince McMahon himself refer to him as such.) Steve wouldn’t be able to carry that banner had he been forced to stick with gimmicks such as “Stunning” Steve Austin, or even worse “The Ringmaster” (At least Stunning Steve could have gone down in the history books as a memorable and solid mid-card guy. The Ringmaster sounds like a character that someone might create in create-a-wrestler in WWE2k16) “Stone Cold” was born on June 23rd 1996, when Austin gave one of my favorite (and one of the most iconic) promos of all time. It’s where millions learned that Austin 3:16 says “I just whipped your ass” I don’t know that I can say anything that hasn’t been said before. Austin was the ultimate anti-hero, and he definitely deserves the credit for pushing the business into new areas. As I’m writing this, I can’t even help but question whether or not WCW would have had the nerve to pull the trigger on “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, if they hadn’t been able to see the things that Austin was doing to change the landscape of professional wrestling. “Stone Cold” is my number one pick, the best gimmick change of all time, well…because that’s the bottom line and I said so.

Kevin Pantoja
5. All-American American to Real American -For reference, I’m only counting same promotion gimmick changes (so Mean Mark becoming the Undertaker doesn’t count) and situations where the person kept the same character somewhat (so no complete changes like Fake Diesel to Kane). We start with Jack Swagger. Now, don’t get me wrong, the “All-American American” character was one that I truly enjoyed during Swagger’s time in ECW. He was cocky, brash and it worked for him. Then, he got moved to the bigger shows and all of the cool things about him were stripped away. Swagger had lost his swagger, pun intended. After some time away, he returned with Zeb Colter as a “Real American” and it worked. Swagger wasn’t great on the mic and Zeb was. It was a match made in heaven and could have become something but Swagger got in trouble before a WrestleMania World Title match and the character never really did anything significant. Still, it was a welcome change that had a lot of potential.

4. Bradshaw to JBL – Now we’re getting to the changes that really proved to have success. As a member of the Acolytes and APA, Bradshaw was a tough Texan who hit hard and fit his role as a member of the tag team division. He was fine there and I never viewed him as much more. However, he split from Faarooq and just came out as a completely different version of himself. John “Bradshaw” Layfield debuted as a pompus, Wall Street savvy businessman and everything just clicked for him. He went from tag team guy to WWE Champion. I’ve seen plenty of gimmick changed skyrocket someone to success, but for JBL, it basically happened overnight.

3. Hunter Hearst Helmsley to Triple H – Like the other guys on this list, the original gimmick given to Triple H just wasn’t cutting it. Granted, as Hunter Hearst Helmsley he found some success. He won a few Intercontinental Titles and the King of the Ring. His matches were mostly dull and things just weren’t working as well as they could have. He changed over to simply become Triple H, setting his career on a Hall of Fame path. From his time with DX to his current role as the COO, Triple H pretty much did it all under his gimmick. From important IC Title matches to legendary WrestleMania matches to 14 World Title reigns, the Triple H character has evolved over time but always remained somehow that won a ton and stayed near the top of the company.

2. Rocky Maivia to The Rock – THAT’S BLUE CHIPPER RIGHT THERE! That’s pretty much the only positive thing commentary could say about Rocky Maivia. Jim Ross says it about 36 times during Rocky’s Survivor Series 1996 debut. He went on to win the Intercontinental Title within a few months but you could hear a pin drop when he arrived. Rocky came out as the whitest of white meat babyfaces in an era where people begged for something edgy. Due to that, the fans completely rejected him with “Die Rocky Die” chants that sent him to the bottom of the card for months. Then, he joined the Nation of Domination and began to call himself the Rock. It allowed more of his real personality to shine and he caught fire. In just a little over a year, he shot up to the top of the company as the WWE Champion. The Rock went on to headline several WrestleManias, win loads of titles and become the most successful crossover star in WWE history. None of that happens if he stays as cheesy Rocky Maivia.

1. Ringmaster to Stone Cold – There could pretty much be no other answer. Steve Austin had loads of potential during his time with WCW and ECW but debuted as the Ringmaster in the WWE. For some reason, they stuck him with Ted Dibiase. Steve Austin never needed a mouthpiece. The Ringmaster floundered for a few months but it wasn’t until Austin lost Dibiase and became “Stone Cold” that things kicked into high gear. Austin went from midcarder without momentum to King of the Ring winner. He dropped the infamous Austin 3:16 promo, which shot him into superstardom. From there it was nothing but success. Within the next two years Austin won two Royal Rumbles, had the best WrestleMania match ever with Bret Hart, won a few Intercontinental and Tag Team Titles and finally became the WWE Champion. Austin was the biggest star in wrestling during the biggest boom period in wrestling history. Never has a gimmick change done so much for one career.

J Onwuka
5. Cody Rhodes to Dashing to Grotesque – One of the most engaging characters in the last few years was the visage-obsessed Cody Rhodes. At first he turned a basic gimmick — the pretty-boy — into something pretty perfectly attuned to the modern era. He made tips with videos, he didn’t preen just to make himself look good but as an example to everyone else, like self-important YouTube stars and reality TV stars turned presenters. Then his face got broken and he became the extremely haunted, dangerous Grotesque character. I wish he had more to feud against than just Rey Mysterio but it’s a testament to Rhodes that I was still interested in seeing him even with the sameyness of the program.

4. Sherri Martel to Sensational Sherri – At first getting her start as a clean cut babyface, like most do, Sherri transformed over time into a wild woman with a totally unique style. Her appearance in the ‘No Holds Barred’ promo video with Savage climbing up the cage should be enough to get her into every hall of fame. But the Sensational Sherri character, to me, had a lot of life to it and was a lot different than even her contemporaries as far as a bad girl persona.

3. Johnny Polo to Raven – Now I have no problems with Johnny Polo. A bit dated maybe but he was good at the slightly updated Jim Cornette gimmick. But Johnny Polo becoming a legend in wrestling is difficult to imagine. Raven was so totally different from anything he’d done on a large stage before. Brooding, cryptic, and violent, the perfect elements to form the core of ECW. But, as WCW’s visits to his palatial estate hinted, maybe Raven and Polo were two sides of the same coin all along.

2. Dustin Runnels to Goldust – It’s gotta be said straight away that Dustin Runnels was a very solid talent. Could he have made it as a high-level clean-cut babyface? It’s very possible. He certainly had the skill and the connections. In WWF, the land of the cartoons, he floundered. His father had made the most of his short run by using his effusive partying charisma. The son could do the job but he wasn’t his father. Instead he became… well, describing Goldust to anyone who hasn’t seen Goldust, especially in his prime, is doing him a disservice. In my opinion one of the greatest travesties in WWF booking is that Goldust was never WWF Champion. I think as far as historicity, Goldust will go down as one of the greatest gimmicks in the history of the game. Greater even than #1.

1. Kazuchika Okada to Rainmaker – But this is Best Gimmick Changes, not Best Gimmicks, and I’m going to give it to the Rainmaker. On the one hand, he changed his own gimmick from a no-comment grappler into a super athlete, pure gold, all about money and the big title matches. On the other hand, he updated a gimmick which had been worn into the ground. No one had really taken the Nature Boy gimmick and given it an upgrade since Flair, which meant that for 30 years people were wearing feathered robes and perfecting their little strut in the mirror. Okada took that same gimmick and supercharged it, gave him a level of over-the-top gaudiness and focused it through immense intensity. Instead of seeming like a throwback, Okada arrived to herald the future. Putting those two together, the Rainmaker gimmick certainly tops my list.

Wyatt Beougher
5. Bray Wyatt – Sure, the character gets his legs cut out from under him every time he gains some major momentum, but would Husky Harris have ever wrestled the Undertaker or John Cena at WrestleMania? Would he have been given effusive praise from the Rock (as a prelude to being completely emasculated)? Of course, this selection is probably cheating, since it’s less a “gimmick change” and more a “demonic possession”; however, Windham Rotunda’s charisma is undeniable, and it looks like WWE might finally be figuring that out.

4. Crow Sting – Sting was a mainstay in NWA/WCW in the early 90’s, but he and most of the WCW stalwarts were overshadowed by the arrival of former WWF talents like Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash in the mid-90’s. When the nWo took over WCW, it was clear that the bleached blonde hair and garish face paint/attire wouldn’t suit the man who would oppose the dominant faction, so he disappeared. When he returned, he had co-opted the nWo’s color scheme and a healthy dose of James O’Barr’s The Crow, and the results were fantastic.

3. The Rock – Wait, if the Rocky Maivia to Rock gimmick change is here, then who ranks higher? Yes, we went from chanting “Die Rocky Die” to welcoming the Rock back as a huge Hollywood star in large part because of a fortuitous gimmick change, but I can’t in good conscience put the Rock any higher because so much of his success has come after he stopped being a full-time performer. Plus, as Roman Reigns is currently illustrating, Rock’s look and heritage likely meant he would have had a similar career trajectory without the gimmick change, though it would not have been anywhere near as well received.

2. Stone Cold Steve Austin – “RINGMASTER! RINGMASTER! RINGMASTER!”, even in JR’s voice, doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the calls that we got, and while this barely counts as a gimmick change, recognizing that Austin had charisma enough that he didn’t need Ted DiBiase and letting him actually cut loose and be more redneck than the straight-laced Ringmaster had allowed proved to be arguably the most fortuitous decision the then-WWF has ever made. If I didn’t think Austin would have eventually gotten over on his own merits regardless of what gimmick they gave him, he probably would have been in the top spot, and if someone feels that he belongs there, I won’t argue too much against it.

1. Triple H – Yes, everyone hates the H’s reign of dominance in the aughts, but in terms of gimmick changes being beneficial to a performer’s career, I don’t think you can make an argument that this was not at the top of the list. Had he remained the Connecticut Blueblood, even his connection to the Clique would not have gotten him past the midcard, yet here we are today with HHH a former 14-time World Champion and coming off of main eventing another WrestleMania.

YOUR TURN KNOW IT ALLS

List your Top Five for this week’s topic in the comment section using the following format:

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